Retracting type theater chair



Dec. 20, 1949 J. G. PROSSER 2,492,108

RETRACTING TYPE THEATER CHAIR Filed June 26, 1946 5 Shets-Sheet l 15a 1515b Z4 Z4 ,25 25 x 22 22 25 25 12 12 5 s 5 8 7 7 '8 INVENTOR Jbselah 6'.Pvosser ZLIYL IIW ATTORNEY Dec. 20, 1949 J. G. PROSSER 2,492,108RETRACTING TYPE mamzn CHAIR Filed June 26. 1946 3 Shets-Sheet 2 INVENTORJbaeplz G. Prossez- D 20, 1949 J. G. PROSSER 2,492,108

RETRAC'I'ING TYPE THEATER CHAIR Filed June 26, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I.5 f? A fr? IQ) INVENTOR JlIJtph (i. Pvoaae r Q ATTORNEY Patented Dec.2Q, 1949 UNIT'ED STATE 5 PAT E N T 2,492,108

RETRACTING TYPE THEATER CHAIR Joseph GrP-rosser, Pasadena, Caljfi,assignorzto American Seating Company, Grand Rapids, Mich acorporation ofNerve Jersey Application Jun'e26, 19 Serial No. 6795356 9 Claims.(crass- 116) "The present invention relates to chairs, and

mare particularly "to chairs of the retracting type adapted forinstallation in theaters, auditoriums li tha is primary objects of theinvention are to ovidea novel theater chair of the retracting ypewherein the-chair occupant may move the seat and back rearwardly thus toincrease the f space in front oihim and facilitate the passage 6! othertheater patrons in front of him without having to rise from his seat; toprovide such ajchair whose seat'maintains the same angular inclinationfrom the horizontal throughout its rearward and forward movements; toprovide such a chair whose rearwardly-upwardly in- Lelined hackapproaches the vertical as the chair is moved rearwardly thus efiectinga minimal reduction of space to the rear of the chair when the same isretracted; to provide such a chair whose isoatis independently-turnableto a raised position of non-use; and to i provide such a chair which issturdy inconstruction, reasonably economical gin manufacture. andattractive in appearance.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein t Figure 1 isla trontelevational view of a theater,chair constructed according to the present inmention:

2 5 and having outer end portions ;1 disposed'in Sockets 8 invthestandards l. Machine screws 9 passing through apertures in themounting .plates 5 and threaded in bosses II in the standards I 5 :alsoserve .to secure the mounting members-to the standards.

A pair of suspension links I2 is .pivotally conheated at theupperendsthereoi to the outer sur- 'face ofeach mounting member 5, and asupporting link is pivotally connected intermediate its ends to thelower end of each suspension link |-2 thus forming spaced pairs ofsupportinglinks on opposite sides of the chair. The front supportinglinksare speciflcallydesignated 13a and {the rear supporting links arespecifically designated 13b in thedrawings.

"A pair of chair supports it is pivotally connected to the upper ends ofthe pairs of supporting links respectively, said chair supports being ofgenerally Ueshaped formation and .being connected at their :forward endsby a seat supporting rod I5. The seat 3 is pivotally mounted on thechair supports [4 by means of seat brack- "ets IE on the oppositesides'thereof, and the seat Figure 2 is a left hand side elevationalview of partsoi the chair in their forward positions in i Ioiid lines,in partially retracted positions in dotlines, and in fully retractedpositions in broken lines.

Referring now in detail to these drawings T wherein like parts aredesignated by the same numerals in the several views, the chairgenerally comprises a pair of spaced upright chair stand- I havingconventional arm rests 2, and a ieatjand back l of conventionalupholstered fljponstruction mounted between the standards I.

\ Bpac ed, upstanding mounting members 5 are it bu d' o the st nd rds Ir s t e by feh em an suchas t ubula onn n strut secured as by welding tothemounting members is thus movable to a lowered position of use whereinits rests on the rod J5 and to a raised position of non-use asillustrated in dotted lines in Figure 3.

The back A of the chair is ;pivotally nounted on the chairsupports 14 bymeans of back mounting bars I I connected to the rearward upper ends ofthe chair supports J4 by the same pivotal connections that secure theseat brackets 16 to the she su s- A h k a t atin link A so nects eachforward supporting :link I3a to the corresponding back mounting bar I1.The for- -ward pivotal connections of the back actuating links [8 to thefront supporting links l3a are above the pivotal connectionsof thesesupporting links to the chair supports I 4, while the rearward pivotalconnections of the back actuating links :to the back mounting bars 11are below the pivotal connections of these backmountingbars to thechair-supports it.

A pair of confining links 19 is pivotally secured at the forwardendsthereof to the outer surface of eachmounting member 5. The rearward endsof these confining links is are pivotallysecured -to the lower ends ofthesupporting links al:3a,a'nd

l3b respectively.

Stop members 20 are secured to the outer suriaces' of the chair supports14 respectively betweenthe supporting li-nks i311 and l3b by meanserudite or screws i-I, and these stop 'meinbers limit the forward andrearward movements of said supporting links. If desired, tension springs22 may be provided for normally urging the chair to its retractedposition, said springs having their forward ends attached to studs 23 onthe front supporting links and their rearward ends attached to studs 24on the upper extensions 25 of the mounting members 5.

Operation The operation of the chair may best be understood by referenceto Figure 5 of the drawings. The major portion of the chair occupantsweight (represented by the arrow) is carried by the front links which arunder compression. The rear links carry little or none of the occupantsweight, and they may even be under tension when the chair is in itsforward position shown in full lines. These forces are mainlytransmitted to the mounting members 5 through the suspension links i2,and in lesser degree by the confining links i9. It will be seen that theoccupants weight maintains the chair in this forward position.

When the chair is moved rearwardly to its intermediate positionillustrated in dotted lines the suspension links R2 are in verticalpositions wherein they transmit virtually all of the occupants weight tothe mounting members 5, while the confining links [9 are in loweredpositions.

When the chair is moved to its fully retracted position, which isillustrated by broken lines in Figure 5, the supporting links i302 andB1) are inclined rearwardly past center and the occupants weight tendsto maintain the chair in this position; the confining links are again intheir raised positions and transmit a portion of the load to themounting members 5.

During this rearward movement, the seat and back move slightly upwardlyand the back is rotated toward the vertical by the back actuating linksi8.

It will be seen that in this chair construction the following distancesare substantially equal: The distance between the pivotal connections ofeach pair of suspension links H. to the adjacent mounting member 5:, thedistance between the pivotal connections of each pair of supportinglinks I311 and i3?) to the adjacent pair of suspension links 82, thedistance between the pivotal connections of each pair of supportinglinks 13a and iiib to the adjacent chair support it, the distancebetween the pivotal connections of each pair of confining links H! tothe adjacent mounting member 5, the distance between the pivotalconnections of each pair of confining links It to the adjacent pair ofsupporting links Mia and 531;. The lengths of the supporting linksbetween their pivotal connections are the same. Links 52 same direction.By this arrangement the supporting links its and I32) are in constantparallelism, and thus the chair supports and chair seat supportedthereby maintain the same angular disposition throughout thesemovements.

invention being intended to be pointed out in the claims, it is not tobe limited to or by details of construction of the particular embodimentthereof illustrated by the drawings as hereinbeiore described.

I claim:

1. In a chair, spaced upstanding mounting are parallel and links l9extend in the to said mounting members, a pair of chair supports eachpivotally connected to the upper ends of a pair of said supportinglinks, a seat mounted on the chair supports, a back pivotally mounted onthe chair supports, a back actuating link pivotally connected to theback and to one of said supporting links, and stop means for limitingthe forward and rearward movements of said supportinglinks.

2. In a chair, spaced upstanding mounting members, oppositely disposedpairs of supporting links having their lower ends pivotally connected tosaid mounting members, a pair of chair supports each pivotally connectedto the upper ends of a pair of said supporting links, a seat mounted onthe chair supports, a back pivotally mounted on the chair supports, aback actuating link pivotally connected to the back and to one of saidsupporting links above the pivotal connection of said supporting link toits adjacent chair support, and stop means for limiting the forward andrearward movements of said supporting links.

3. In a chair, spaced upstanding mounting members, oppositely disposedpairs of supporting links having their lower ends pivotally connected tosaid mounting members and each pair comprising a front and a rearsupporting link, a pair of chair supports each pivotally connected tothe upper ends of a pair of said supporting links, a seat mounted on thechair supports, a back pivotally mounted on the chair supports, a backactuating link pivotally connected to the back and to the front one of apair of said supporting links above the pivotal connection of saidsupporting link to its adjacent chair support, and

stop means for limiting the forward and rearward movements of saidsupporting links.

l. In a chair, spaced upstanding mounting members, oppositely disposedpairs of supporting links having their lower ends pivotally connected tosaid mounting members, a pair of chair supports each pivotally connectedto the upper ends of a pair of said supporting links, a seat pivotallymounted on the chair supports, stop means carried by the chair supportsfor limiting the'lowering movement of the seat, a back pivotally mountedon the chair supports, a back actuating link pivotally connected to theback and to one of said supporting links and stop means for limiting theforward and rearward movements of said supporting links.

5. In a chair, spaced upstanding mounting members, oppositely disposedpairs of supporting links having their lower ends pivotally connected tosaid mounting members, a pair of chair supports each pivotally connectedto the upper ends of a pair of said supporting links, a seat pivotallymounted on the chair supports, stop means carried by the chair supportsforwardly of the pivotal connectionsbetween said chair supports andtheir adjacent supporting links for limiting the lowering movement ofthe seat, a back pivotally mounted on the chair supports, a backactuating link pivotally connected to the back and to one of saidsupporting links and stop means for limiting the forward and rearwardmovements of said supporting links. 7

6. In a chair, spaced upstanding mounting members, a pair of suspensionlinks pivotally connected at their upper ends to each mounting member, asupporting link pivotally connected intermediate its ends to the lowerend of each suspension link thus forming spaced pairs of supportinglinks, a pair of chair supports each pivotally connected to the upperends of a pair of said supporting links, a seat mounted on the chairsupports, a back mounted on the chair supports, a pair of confininglinks pivotally connected at their forward ends to each of said mountingmembers and pivotally connected at their rearward ends to the lower endsof said supporting links, and stop means for limiting the forward andrearward movements of said supporting links.

7. A chair according to claim 6 in which the following distances aresubstantially equal: The distance between the pivotal connections ofeach pair of suspension links to the adjacent mounting member, thedistance between the pivotal connections of each pair of supportinglinks to the adjacent pair of suspension links, the distance beto saidmounting members and each pair comprising a front and a rear supportinglink, a pair of chair supports each pivotally connected to the upperends of a pair of said supporting links, a seat mounted on the chairsupports, a back pivotally mounted on the chair supports, back actuatinglinks pivotally connected to opposite sides of the back and to the frontsupporting links respectively above the pivotal connections of saidsupporting links to their adjacent chair supports, and stop means forlimiting the forward and rearward movements of said supporting links.

9. In a chair, spaced upstanding mounting members, oppositely disposedpairs of supporting links having their lower ends pivotally connected tosaid mounting members, a pair of chair supports each pivotally connectedto the upper ends of a pair of said supporting links, a back pivotallymounted on the chair supports, a back actuating link pivotally connectedto the back and to one of said supporting links, a spring connected toone of said supporting links and to the adjacent mounting member fornormally urging the supporting links rearwardly, and stop means forlimiting the forward and rearward movements of said supporting links.

JOSEPH G. PROSSER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,176,221 Kerbel Mar. 21, 19161,418,709 Hardman June 6,. 1922 2,098,623 Hard Nov. 9, 1937 2,336,031Orton Dec. '7, 1943

